Easy Zucchini Bread

When James Beard published this zucchini bread recipe in his 1973 book, Beard on Bread, he wrote that the “loaf has a very pleasant flavor, a little on the sweet side, and a distinctive texture. The built-in moisture provided by the zucchini makes it a keeper.” Almost 50 years later, those observations, and this recipe, hold up.

Making zucchini bread is the perfect solution if you’ve grown a bumper crop of the fruit (yes, it’s a fruit, botanically speaking) or spotted a sale at the market. Peeling the zucchini gives the bread a softer texture, allowing the shredded zucchini to almost disappear into the crumb, but if you’d prefer to skip the extra step, feel free. Either way, shred the zucchini using the large holes of a box grater or the grating disc of your food processor.

If you don’t care for walnuts, they can be left out or replaced with pecans, chopped dried fruit (cranberries are especially nice), or chocolate chips. For a heartier loaf, Beard writes that you can replace up to 1 cup of the white flour with whole wheat flour. Serve the loaves warm, fresh from the oven with butter and good honey; toast a slice of leftovers the next day and slather it with cream cheese; or wrap a loaf tightly in plastic wrap and then foil before tucking it into the freezer.

This recipe for zucchini bread was adapted from ‘Beard on Bread’ by James Beard. Buy the complete book on Amazon.